


Hopelessly Alive

by SgtPepper007



Series: EXO Oneshots [15]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hope vs. Despair, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21511759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SgtPepper007/pseuds/SgtPepper007
Summary: As a result of humans neglecting their planet to the point of no return, the Earth is destroyed in its entirety. Jongdae is one of the rare survivors of the countless natural disasters showing no mercy and after spending years of fighting for his and the other survivors' lives, he is starting to completely lose hope in even the prospect of a future. However, his world turns upside down when Chanyeol finds them and claims that he can provide help.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen & Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Park Chanyeol
Series: EXO Oneshots [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1257455
Kudos: 7





	Hopelessly Alive

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot is based on J's prompt:  
> Futuristic AU: A is a police officer in a city in the future and has never seen seasons. They are sent off to investigate outside of the kilometers-long high walls. They step outside and fall in love with the first season they experience.
> 
> It's a genre I have never done before and as much as I am not confident at all about it, it was really fun to make this prompt come to life. I recommend listening to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A4VyYbckoY) before, while, or after reading, which put me into the mood of the story a lot. Gotta love Fleet Floxes.
> 
> This oneshot is dedicated to Syn, Arrow and the Enmortals. Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement, as well as for believing in me. I am lucky to be a part of such a wonderful team and I could never show my gratitude enough.

Jongdae watched the scene playing in front of him quietly, eyes locked on the teenagers’ ones dark with anger as he struggled against his colleague. Kyungsoo held the younger man down on the ground, the teenager resisting the grip of the policeman on him as strongly as he could, but he was no match for the experienced and older one. A few meters away on the pavement lay a knife and stood a few onlookers that had happened to witness the tragedy that had taken place only a few seconds earlier. Fortunately, the victim wasn’t harmed.

Jongdae was starting to seriously lose hope. When he had taken the position of taking care of a part of the very few and rare survivors of his hometown, as well as a couple of others while on their journey in search of a better place to stay, he was convinced that if the civilians thirsting for a brighter future, or a future in itself, would be as determined as him, things would go smoother than the catastrophic situation they were all trapped in. But when he saw innocent people being attacked and killed, with the excuse of survival and revenge, when he saw the look in their eyes clouded with hatred and desperation, Jongdae’s strong-willed resolution weakened, ceding his good-natured intentions to hopelessness. At this point, he wasn’t sure he had any faith left at all.

He understood people like the teenager who was being immobilised before his eyes, people who resented the previous generations for screwing the planet up without a care in the world and who lost their minds because of it. Jongdae could relate a lot to his thoughts, feel his stomach agonizing as strongly as the younger man’s, see the atrocity of their dull surroundings and the nonexistence of landscapes he had been told about countless times all of his youth. But he had never been able to truly imagine them, with the lack of colours and life around him. He had only seen destroyed cities and deserts, barely any vegetation at all. There was no place for creativity and hobbies when his life was on the line every single day. He could feel the crippling heat and beads of sweat continuously sliding off his pores every day, caused by the unbearable hot weather, he could feel all the hatred of the teenager’s eyes and actions. After all, Jongdae used to be as revolted as him. 

However, instead of succumbing to the resentment he grew up with, of letting his apathy towards the inhabitants who decided that money and success had more worth than peace and helping one another, to stand by each other’s side and respect the nature that was once lively on Earth, soil his heart and dictate his actions, Jongdae cultivated hope and faith for a better future, for not only himself, but for all the other survivors of the tragedies imposed on them by a distressed and wiped out planet. Jongdae and the survivors hadn’t asked for a life drown in poverty and harsh conditions, but they suffered the consequences inflicted by their ancestors. 

Jongdae was growing tired of dedicating his whole life for the civilians’ sake and seeing no real improvement, especially when they knew that their time and lives were running out and when crimes like the ones they had managed to prevent increased in numbers; water sources were rare, food was even more difficult to obtain, natural catastrophes kept multiplying, razing everything in its passage. The Earth was crying out its pain, and the survivors of the apocalypse they were going through had no reason or will to be.

“Jongdae!” 

Jongdae’s trance broke, making him blink before he gained conscience of his whereabouts. It took him a moment but he scanned his surroundings and saw Kyungsoo and the teenager walking farther away towards the headquarters while Eshan stood next to the victim, a woman probably in her mid-thirties, as he asked her questions. Jongdae could leave her under his care. Kyungsoo and Eshan would handle this case.

“Hey, Jongdae!” 

“What is it, Allan?” The policeman replied, exhausted while he massaged his temples. The heat was especially hard to bear that day. Allan ran towards him and stopped in front of him, panting while bending his knees, hands resting on them, and catching his breath. “What got you so worked up? You shouldn’t spend so much energy like that when we’re so frail, we-”

“You have to come with me, immediately.”

Jongdae rose his eyebrow, “Right now? What is it? Not another incident?”

The other man breathed in deeply and looked him straight in the eyes, shining brightly. Jongdae frowned in curiosity. “Someone is here to talk to you. Someone who received our signals of help!”

“What?”

“Yes! Let’s not waste time, come with me!”

“Wait, Allan, can’t you explain what happened more precisely?”

Allan turned around and started walking fast, urging his confused colleague to follow him. “He’ll explain it to you.”

“Who?”

  
  


* * *

Park Chanyeol was the name of the man, as he introduced himself. A tall, lean man with short, faded purple hair -he couldn’t quite make it- and a kind smile on his face. Next to him stood another man, shorter than him, with short burgundy hair and named Kim Minseok. Chanyeol radiated genuine interest, insisted Allan, but it was Jongdae’s second nature to be wary of a stranger who claimed that he wanted, and could, save them. A few other people from planets of various galaxies had tried to trick them into making them believe their lies and empty promises, rising their hope of having a better life before crushing them to the very core. It hurt more than physical pain and starvation.

“I am not convinced.”

“Jongdae! It might be our only hope!”

“Only hope or not, I am not going to trust a stranger who claims has pure intentions when we’ve been let down multiple times in the past.”

“But it is worth the try, Jongdae!”

“Is it worth the try to be invaded once again? Against people with advanced technologies that almost killed us all? The only reason we managed to survive was that they weren’t prepared enough for the weather conditions here and that most of them perished in a storm, taking some of our people’s lives with it as well! We aren’t even real policemen; we are just an organisation created by our community to maintain peace and to provide food supplies for as many people as possible. We can’t even defend ourselves because we lack resources for even the most basic inventions!”

“But Chanyeol seems like a great person, and he has no intention to live here amongst us, he says that his planet would have enough place for all of us, he and Minseok don’t even have weapons with them, and-”

“Place for all of us? Don’t make me laugh, we’re way more than we can think. There might be enough place on his planet for our community, but there are others in different parts of Earth.”

“Actually, there aren’t.”

Jongdae froze at Chanyeol’s words, silence dead in the room. “What do you mean, there aren’t? When our community left years ago, we parted ways with others.” Jongdae detached his gaze from Allan and looked in Chanyeol’s eyes, disbelieving.

“We arrived a few days ago on your planet. We looked all around it, inspected every corner of it, and it took us some time to locate the only civilization we could find, which is yours,” Minseok explained. “You are the only living beings on Earth, aside from a few animals here and there. But most of them are perishing.”

Jongdae’s eyes widened and he could feel the blood pumping rapidly in his veins, “It can’t be…” Jongdae’s parents parted ways with him not long after they departed from their demolished hometown. He, and many other people in their community, left their beloved ones to survive and build something better for their future. His parents took the lead of another group of survivors who desperately needed the couple to guide them. Jongdae had thought about the possibility of his family passing away, but he had never lost hope. Hearing it from a stranger’s mouth tasted foul.

“Jongdae,” Chanyeol stepped closer towards Jongdae, the latter shocked in place. “We are really sorry for announcing it to you in such a way. If you’re not willing for us to take everyone in our spaceship towards our planet just yet, which is not equipped for it because I was just on a short trip on my own, we can take you with us, or anyone else, to visit Ex’Act before we welcome the other people of your community there. If you don’t think our planet is enough to satiate your needs, we’ll drop you off back on Earth and mind our own business. I was on my way from Minseok’s planet, Elyxion, from another galaxy, because he is willing to help us in Ex’Act with an issue that was fortunately resolved, and when we received the signal from your planet asking for help, we thought we could help you. We learned while gathering pieces of information about your planet that Ex’Act resembles Earth a lot before the tragedy the humans created. It shouldn’t disorient your community too much, and we have the perfect conditions for your survival and adaptation, which resembles ours. It would be my pleasure to do so if you would let me give a helping hand.”

They might have no access to advanced technologies, but their community had managed to save a device they found in a deserted town they came across while trying to find a new site to settle in for a while, and which emanated signals that could be captured in space if close enough. Kyungsoo had managed to program a signal of help, which attracted people with ill intentions, and Jongdae thought at some point that the device defected. He was proven wrong. And Chanyeol’s gaze was unwavering, his voice filled with honesty. Jongdae hesitated; he had no idea where to stand in front of these strangers and after such heart-wrenching news. They were the only humans alive on Earth, not more than 50 people, on the verge of extinction. They might be their only hope left.

“You don’t need to make a decision now. We suggest you talk about it with your community and tomorrow we can discuss it again.” 

Allan nodded at Chanyeol’s words. He looked in Jongdae’s direction, asking for the next move. Jongdae ruffled his hair and sighed in puzzlement, “Alright, we’ll think about it. Let’s meet again here tomorrow morning.”

Chanyeol smiled warmly, “Noted. I’ll go back to my spaceship and I’ll communicate with the civilians of my planet to talk about the idea with them. Thank you for listening to us and considering my offer.”

* * *

The next morning, Jongdae was on edge. Kyungsoo, Eshan and he had found a lost animal running around their current territory in the evening. They thanked the heavens for such a rare gift and hunted it, but there wasn’t enough meat to feed a quarter of the community. The children were the priority. Jongdae’s thoughts kept flailing around; from their unbearable lifestyle to Chanyeol’s appealing offer, the starving civilians and his family that hadn’t survived. It was only a matter of days before all of them would succumb to their weak and malnourished bodies, their wounded and helpless souls. What, is it even worth it to fight so much for their lives when fatality was at their feet? 

The community was split between wanting to live in Chanyeol’s planet or give up and die on Earth. The desperate ones were thrilled at the idea of being able to leave their desolated planet while the hopeless ones weren’t affected in the slightest by the news of the probability, no matter how thin, of being able to get by and escape the very prominent death awaiting at any second to take them away. But Kyungsoo, Eshan, and Allan convinced Jongdae that he should go on the spaceship alone with Chanyeol and Minseok. Only him could explore Ex’Act, as quickly as possible under their urgent situation, and only then he would go back on Earth and take the whole community with him if he deemed the planet good enough, and also if Chanyeol was truly as kind-hearted as he appeared to be. 

Jongdae didn’t want to take everyone on the spaceship in case they would all end up dying on the foreign planet; he’d rather them die on Earth than die because of betrayal, from both him as a leader and Chanyeol. There was no other option left; it was either investigating Ex’Act or dying without trying it out. He would die in regret if he wouldn’t give it a shot and it was as heavy as betraying the community. Chanyeol left a communication device on Earth with Allan, Eshan, and Kyungsoo for Jongdae to reach them when needed and at any time. He was grateful for that. They were his family, other than his birth one. 

Jongdae had never been on a spaceship before. He had seen a few when some other species from various planets wanted to invade the planet, most of them abandoning it in the end when they weren't razed along the planet by violent storms because there are not many adequate elements to maintain life in the state Earth is, including the ones invading. The planet was truly miserable. It was a miracle in itself that about 50 people had managed to stay alive.

Chanyeol’s spaceship was rather small, enough for 5 people to be comfortable in it. Jongdae had never left the Earth before and he was absolutely fascinated by space. The solar system was pure beauty; the sun was incredibly blinding, and the other planets in orbit around it were beautiful as well, with their unique characteristics and appearances. But when they traveled from one galaxy to the other, Jongdae couldn’t believe his eyes. There were so many stars, countless different galaxies, and planets. He didn’t know anything about space in general, and couldn’t describe half of the things he saw, but traveling in the spaceship was an experience of its own and he was in awe.

“We’ll be arriving soon, Jongdae,” Chanyeol informed. Jongdae nodded and observed the phenomenon before his eyes.

“Minseok, thank you so much for helping us again. The civilians in Elyxion already helped us fighting the invaders, I’m truly grateful and indebted to you.”

“It’s our pleasure to help our friends. And we don’t mind giving you some of our weapons in the meantime.” 

Jongdae flinched at the last statement, his whole body and mind in alert. He faced the two friends, “Weapons? What for?”

Chanyeol sensed Jongdae’s discomfort and smiled while waving his hands, “It’s not what you think, Jongdae. Our planet was invaded by people from a neighbouring planet in our galaxy, but since Ex’Act lives in complete peace, we don’t have weapons. But it led us to the loss of many innocent lives, because we were completely defenseless, and we contacted Minseok so his planet could help us protect ourselves. No one knows how to fight on Ex’Act. There is no need for it since harmony is our way of life and ultimate guide. And thanks to the Elyxion planet, we were victorious against the invaders, although ‘victorious’ is a very wrong word for us. We don’t consider taking people’s lives as a victory and a lot of our civilians are scarred by the atrocity of the war they witnessed. But to be prepared in case similar events occurs again, we need to be able to defend ourselves. That’s why Minseok is coming to Ex’Act with us, so he can show us how the technology of advanced weapons is and how to build and use them. Also, some of our civilians are ready to learn how to fight to protect our population, even if they are saddened by it.”

“Wait, you don’t have weapons?”

“No.”

“And you don’t know how to fight?”

“We don’t.”

Jongdae was bewildered. It was very hard to believe and didn’t make much sense to him. He had never heard of anything like that before. “You don’t have police officers, security guards, an army, or anything of that sort?”

“We have security guards who follow every interaction with our planets and the outside world, but there is no need for jails or rules of that sort on our planet, even punishments. Not a single soul in Ex’Act has the heart to have ill intentions or thoughts towards anyone. As I said, we live in complete harmony, so there is no need for those underdeveloped ways. We are a developed society morally speaking and also with technology. I am sure it won’t take time before we understand the use of weapons and recreate them.”

“Of course. And I have weapons that would make your civilians feel less guilty and unforgivable for using them. They aren’t as harmful and the damages created by it aren’t as violent and bloody as throwing a bomb and such. Some weapons can even be considered ‘peaceful’ in how they affect bodies.”

“Thank you so much, Minseok.”

“But aren’t you afraid my community will ‘corrupt’ yours?” Jongdae asked. “I mean, the only way of life we know is survival; some kill because they bear incredible resentment and hate, others kill animals and even kill themselves without any remorse. What if they end up blinded by your 'wonderful' planet and screw it up? If you have as many nutrients as you need to be healthy, enough food and water for everyone to be satiated without fear of depleting your resources, some could take advantage of it. I love my people more than anything else, but they aren’t peaceful and they are going through very harsh periods mentally.”

Chanyeol grinned, looked Jongdae straight in the eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, wide and warm, “My people are willing to provide psychological help for your community. They are glad to welcome you on their planet and they are waiting for your arrival impatiently. We have the tools to help them and gain their real selves back, to teach them what peace and love is. We have what it takes, many resources, and we have faith in you.” He rubbed his shoulder before smiling genuinely. Jongdae felt at that moment an emotion he couldn’t explain and spent the rest of the travel in silence, watching the stars passing by with a heart beating wildly and clenching with every mile.

* * *

Jongdae was very nervous. They had landed on Ex’Act and were about to step foot on the planet. He had no idea what to expect; was Chanyeol an impressive actor that managed to play him? Was his planet truly peaceful? Truthfully, Jongdae couldn’t fathom the fact that there existed a place as Chanyeol described. It sounded surreal and like an idealistic, inconceivable and utopian dream. He could barely stay still, with his body shaking from head to toe and a mind racing at the speed of lightning. And he would truly be deceived if Chanyeol wouldn’t be the person he claimed to be. He had managed to spark the little hope Jongdae had left in him and if he would be let down, he wouldn’t be able to overcome the blow. And Jongdae wouldn’t dare admit it, but he had started to trust Chanyeol a tiny bit.

Chanyeol snapped Jongdae out of his thoughts and motioned him towards the door that leads outside, “You can follow me, Jongdae.” It was a crucial moment. Jongdae couldn’t back down now. He sighed and felt his heart beating strongly against his chest as he approached the spaceship’s exit.

Out of anything he could imagine, Jongdae could have never imagined the sight in front of him, even in his wildest dreams. His eyes observed his surroundings with the greatest curiosity, eyes wide and mouth agape. He could hear the voice of his grandmother in his mind, describing what was once on Earth; “Fifty years ago, there used to be what people called ‘trees’, with long, tall trunks and tiny or wide branches at the end of it, naked when it is cold, and full of green leaves when it is warm. Some leaves were of different colors, with different shapes, and some even had fruits and flowers.” Jongdae looked around and recognised his late grandmothers’ descriptions; he guessed that there were huge trees around them, with ‘grass’ and colours he had never seen as beautifully and brightly. Some of the colours were ones he had never seen before. “There are what they used to call ‘lakes’, wide areas with a lot of water in it. There are also ‘ponds’ and ‘rivers’, all with water, clear blue water. Nothing like our dark, polluted skies and water sources; real blue. Can you imagine it, Jongdae?”

“I knew you would like it,” Chanyeol said with eyes locked on the other man. Jongdae blinked and felt a tear slide down his left cheek, eyes stinging and nose starting to run. He observed in adoration the scenery in front of him and wondered if Earth was like that as well before, as colourful, lively and stunning. It looked nothing like the current state of Earth and what he had seen in his lifetime. It radiated incomparable energy.

Jongdae stayed motionless for a long moment, absorbing every single detail about the vegetation he could, even the people passing by farther away and smiling, laughing. “How is it called?” Jongdae asked, a knot scratching his voice.

“What is called what?”

“I mean, this?” Jongdae pointed towards the whole nature, the vibrant colours, the trees with tiny leaves, the sun reflecting on the clearwater his grandmother had described when he was a child. The blue he had imagined was nowhere near that.

“Ah!” Chanyeol smiled in understanding and chuckled, a warm and lovely sound that tickled his heart in the best way. “These are trees and a lake. This is what we call ‘spring’, a season where the vegetation grows back after months of cold. It started a couple of weeks ago, the snow already melted in most areas and the leaves and flowers just barely started to grow and bloom.”

“Spring,” Jongdae whispered and repeated in his mind. Another tear freed from the enclose of his eyes and he wiped it with trembling hands, speechless. Without him being aware of it, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as various emotions he had forgotten took hold of him. He found himself falling helplessly in love with the breathtaking season. If the rest of the planet and the civilians were as beautiful and pure, he did not doubt that his and his community’s lives would be saved and in good hands.


End file.
